Computer-controlled TVSS and some characteristics of vibrotactile letter recognition

A computer-controlled vibrotactile display against the abdomen was used to investigate recognition performance of Katakana characters as a function of 3 display modes. The superior performance (about 95% correct) is achieved when the letter is presented sequentially as if it were being written. The other two modes (the entire letter is presented at once, the letter is moved horizontally across the display) allow only 20 to 40% correct recognition.